The invention described herein relates to the compound plutonium pentafluoride (PuF.sub.5) and a photochemical method for preparing it.
Plutonium hexafluoride (PuF.sub.6) has a substantial vapor pressure at or near room temperature and is therefore a useful feed material in a process for plutonium isotope separation based on an isotope-selective, laser-induced photodissociation reaction.
It is well known in the literature that the thermal decomposition of PuF.sub.6 results in the formation of PuF.sub.4 and F.sub.2. Alpha particle irradiation produces the same products. In either instance, the net result is as shown in equation (1). ##STR1## In a laser-induced isotope separation process, however, photodissociation to PuF.sub.5 would be preferable, since less energy is required to abstract one fluorine atom than two.
Thermodynamic considerations suggest that PuF.sub.5 should be capable of existence. Heretofore, however, all efforts to isolate it have been unsuccessful.